Taiwanese president shot in stomach

Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian was shot in the stomach today while campaigning on last day of the presidential election, a lawmaker travelling with the President said.

“The President suffered a deep wound about three centimetres (1.2 inches) deep in the stomach,” lawmaker Wang Hsing-nan told TVBS cable news.

Wang said he was travelling in a car behind Chen’s motorcade as it drove through the streets campaigning in the southern city of Tainan.

“I was travelling in the vehicle behind the President when I suddenly saw his car accelerating,” said Wang, a member of Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party.

The Presidential Office said that it did not have enough information to discuss the incident.

TVBS cable news showed the convertible the president was riding in parked outside a Tainan hospital.

CTI cable news quoted unidentified police officials as saying the Chen was injured by celebratory fireworks that are traditionally ignited as the President’s motorcade passes by.

But Wang told TVBS cable news that he was certain the President was shot because he saw the wound in the hospital and it was serious.